


Let Me Learn to Fly

by HuntressFirefall



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Deleted Scenes, Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Outtakes, Spoilers for Let Me Fall For You, YOI in a blender with real life, figure skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27596375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuntressFirefall/pseuds/HuntressFirefall
Summary: This oneshot is an outtake from and contains major spoilers for my fic "Let Me Fall For You". For this reason I will list the summary in the end notes so as not to spoil those who have not read the main fic.
Relationships: Background Phichit/Leo, Otabek Altin & Yuri Plisetsky, Yuri Plisetsky & Everyone, background victuri - Relationship
Comments: 21
Kudos: 38





	Let Me Learn to Fly

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Let Me Fall For You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17866373) by [HuntressFirefall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuntressFirefall/pseuds/HuntressFirefall). 



Yura had just arrived to Otabek's apartment after spending the rest of his day at the Detroit Skating Club following his very abrupt arrival that morning. Leo was just finishing packing up to go stay with Phichit, as Yuri had already been staying with Victor during the off-season. Plisetsky had been prepared to find a hotel but the DSC crew wouldn't hear of it, with the plan of switching up roommates before the start of everyone's scheduled competitions already in motion anyway.

“I feel like I'm causing a bunch of problems for everyone. Maybe I should have thought shit through more first,” Yura said as he pulled his rolling suitcase into the living room from the hall.

“Aw, don't worry about it,” Leo smiled as he hefted a duffel bag over his shoulder to go with the stuffed backpack already on his back. “Half my stuff is already in Phichit's apartment 'cause Yuri's been slowly moving out anyway. It's been kinda crazy here since the season ended, but in a good way.”

“I told you it's fine,” Otabek laughed. “Although it is kind of different seeing you worry about something.”

“I worry about a lot of shit. I'm just good at hiding it,” Yura replied, which evoked a concerned frown from Leo who was standing behind Plisetsky.

“Anyway, I'm out,” Leo said after a slight pause. “The bed in my room's got clean sheets and stuff, you can sleep in there Yura.”

“You sure? I mean it's your room...”

Leo waved him off with a smile. “It's almost empty anyway. It's cool. Well, see you guys tomorrow at practice!”

Otabek nodded with a smile as Leo closed the door behind him, then sat down on the sofa across from where Yura had taken up residence on a chair.

“Having second thoughts?” Beka asked after waiting a minute to see if Yura would initiate the conversation.

“Nah. Just... kinda feeling like I should have calmed down and not shown up unannounced. But shit just hit the fan and I felt like I needed to get the hell out of Russia fast.”

“I can understand that. But it's off-season so things are more laid back here. We don't go into the rink as early as usual unless we want to. But speaking of, how did your talk with Coach C go?”

“We talked about what I was looking for as far as coaching. My goals, a timeline for what I wanted to do. It... was weird.”

Beka frowned curiously at that. “How do you mean?”

“I didn't know how to answer him. Because nobody's asked _me_ that before. It's always been 'here's what you're gonna do'. The only thing I really know is that I wasn't ready for everything Yakov wanted me to do. I was a Senior as far as level, sure... but was I ready, good enough to beat Katsuki or Victor at the Olympics? I... wanted to think I was. But I learned the hard way I wasn't.”

“Did you tell Coach that?”

“Yeah.”

Beka's knowing smirk came first in reaction to Yura's answer to his question, and then in response to the other's confused frown at said smirk. “And what did he say?”

“He looked dead at me and said 'now I don't mean any disrespect but... I know my skaters and no, you weren't ready. In my book you weren't a threat'. Then he asked me where I wanted to go from there. I told him I want to be an actual contender for Beijing, and that's what he said he's going to base his assessment of my tryout on. He's gonna go in blind, not look at any video of stuff I've done up till now. I mean, he's seen me skate, but he's not going to watch anything more so he doesn't go into critique mode and come in to the live tryout biased.”

Beka nodded. “He'll pretty much decide if he's able to help you reach whatever goal you want. But when you change coaches, unless you're someone like Victor that just needed a different  _approach_ to coaching and not so much changes of technique, it can take till the next Olympic year to get to what you want.”

Yura nodded pensively then as the jet lag began to catch up with him. “Yeah. We didn't get too deep into it because he said he didn't want to say anything concrete till the tryout. He's submitting the formal request to the RSF, or was gonna this afternoon. So hopefully by the end of the week we'll have the OK.”

“Are you going to skate in the meantime?”

“He told me to take a day or two to reset from the jet lag. It will probably take that long to hear back from the RSF anyway. So maybe I'll sleep in tomorrow and see about Wednesday.”

“Oh yeah, it's very different. I had to get used to a lot of things, but having a set schedule is good. The hardest thing is getting used to Coach's training methods. Honestly that's half of the thing you want to get used to. We had a couple people turn it down because all they want to do is skate, but Coach is more about being well-rounded.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that idea when you were telling me about your off-ice stuff. I started doing some of it on my own but it would be good to know if I'm doing everything right.”

“Well, the best thing to do is get your bearings first. Rest for a couple days, and we'll see what happens from there.”

  
  


  
  


Victor sat at the kitchen table with Yuri as they finished their breakfast, sipping on his coffee and doing his usual perusal of social media on his phone. He had known from the weekends they'd spent together that Yuri was most certainly not a morning person, but the more they stayed together Victor had come to find that the love of his life _really_ did not like to speak or be spoken to for at least the first half hour after waking up on practice days. Victor definitely understood; everyone was tired during the week as no amount of sleep during the regular season was ever enough. Prep for touring as they were doing currently was basically the work equivalent of mid-season high gear, and this was especially true when everyone was working on the first or second drafts of competitive programs to take with them to perform on the road as literal dress rehearsal for the coming season.

So as a result Yuri and he sat quietly at the table each morning, both beginning their day scrolling through the news from overnight – thanks to time zones, there was always _something_ to catch up on in the skating world – until breakfast was consumed and the first (very large) cups of coffee were polished off. It had been this way for a while now, so the text that popped up on Victor's screen actually made him blink and pause in confusion. Said person never contacted him this early in the morning, and he almost became concerned until he remembered its sender was in an apartment across the courtyard and not half a world away in the middle of his own practice day.

**Yura:** I'm coming in with Beka today. I don't know what to expect. He keeps telling me not to be worried and just chill and I have no idea what that even means.

Victor looked over to see Yuri engrossed in reading something on his phone, seeming to have not noticed the text tone that he'd come to recognize as Yura's. Victor took that as a sign to not include him in the discussion for the moment, instead looking back at Yura's text to re-read it while considering his reply.

**Victor:** You can expect everything to be the polar opposite of what you're used to. It will start with all of us walking in to the rink together. We'll be meeting up at your building in about half an hour. But don't push yourself to try to fit in right away. Your best bet is to observe, interact when you're comfortable, and feel everything out. I came away after my first day feeling like I had a massive stick up my ass though. I loosened up pretty quickly after that.

**Yura:** It sounds like everyone slacks off when you put it that way.

**Victor:** After everything you've known? It feels like it. But trust me, they don't. They just know how to enjoy it and do it while being treated like human beings and not machines. I can't tell you how to react to it. All I know is that it will be quite an eye-opener for you when all is said and done.

“Everything okay?”

Victor looked up to see Yuri's brow no longer knitted in “mornings, why” annoyance, the food and coffee having kicked in to “bring my brainmeats online”, a phrase he'd inherited from Celestino. “I heard Yura's text tone. Is he coming in today?”

Victor nodded as he sipped his own coffee. “Yes. He's nervous I think. Beka's been filling him in but I really think Yura's more worried that he won't be accepted into the 'family' if you will, on top of worrying if Coach will take him on. I think he wants this move a lot more than we all realize.”

“Moving to another country and more or less starting over is definitely big and scary when you're younger,” Yuri nodded. “But it's always easier when you have people to welcome you. In that sense he's starting off better than I did. Everyone has their own way of adapting, but I have a sense that he'll feel like he's being coddled at first. He'll have to learn that you can have a solid work ethic and relax while doing it. And I mean, we saw what kind of struggle that was for you for the first couple of weeks.”

Victor smiled then as he rose to collect the breakfast dishes, prompting Yuri to knock back the last bit of his coffee so Victor could take the cup. “Yes, I was in the doghouse a few times. My favorite thing Celestino said was 'If you don't take it down several notches I'm tying bricks to your boots to keep your ass on the ice. In this house we don't do 20 quads in a row!”

“Oh he was _Mad_ with a capital M that day,” Yuri laughed as he rose. “He sure laid down the law with you quick, but it was what you needed really.”

“Celestino's version of Extremely Angry compared to Yakov's Extremely Angry was like watching a middle schooler scold me in terms of intensity,” Victor said, completely serious in the comparison. “But because Coach is so laid back normally, you take notice when he's mad. I learned that quickly and I think Yura will too.”

“Honestly, I don't think Yura has anything to worry about,” Yuri replied. “I think he'll read the room and like what he finds soon enough.”

  
  


  
  


“You said it wasn't hot today! I'm afraid of what it means to be 'too hot' now.”

Yura had just completed the approximate 30-minute walk from the apartment complex to the rink with the rest of Team DSC in the somewhat muggy 70-degree Fahrenheit morning, and was now grateful for the air conditioning that enveloped him upon entering the rink. His observation, directed at Victor, had set everyone to laughing as they headed into the locker room.

“It's not! For Detroit,” Victor replied as he sat down to sort through what he would need for his morning off-ice workout from the contents of his rolling bag. “It feels like the hottest part of the summer in St. Petersburg though, I guess.”

“Wait till we head home in the afternoon,” Leo said. “I dunno guys we might have to carry Yura home cause it's gonna be hotter later.”

“Like hell you will!” Yura said, a bit of an edge to it causing Leo to raise his eyebrows in surprise before backing off and returning to rummaging in his own bag. Plisetsky felt the hand on his shoulder a second after he saw Leo's reaction and turned to see Beka's slightly stern expression, prompting Yura to sigh heavily. “Sorry. Guess I'm kinda on edge today.”

“First day in a new rink nerves suck ass,” Phichit said with a shrug that 'somehow' managed to bump shoulders with Leo in Phichit's own version of a nonverbal 'take a chill pill' message.

“The thing about all of us is that we take the piss out of each other on a daily basis, as Coach says,” Yuri said as he rose from the bench, water bottle, towel and skates in hand. “Trash talk is the Language of the Rink Brothers around here. Get used to it,” he added with an 'innocent' grin and wink Yura's way before he took his leave to the gym with Victor following.

“The Second Eldest Brother hath spoken,” Phichit laughed as he gathered up his things. “Looks like the initiation has begun!” And with a grin of his own and a nod to Leo who rose to follow, they too headed to the gym. Yura watched after them by way of processing what amounted to his first non-competition setting interaction with the group that many in the skating world had taken to calling the “Band of Brothers” after the previous season, a moniker they'd decided to own before it turned into something negative in the press and skating fandom.

“Rule Number One: Never take the banter personally,” Beka said. “If it's got a wink and a smile attached, it's all fun and games. Not everything is a shady remark on your character or your abilities. It even took Victor a while to get used to it.”

Yura let out another heavy sigh as he followed Beka's lead by gathering up his workout supplies and boots. “I'm gonna fuck up a lot today aren't I?”

“Nah. There's always a couple of days of awkward till everyone gets used to a new person. You just notice it more because we're all so close. But no one gets treated any different here even when they're new. It's up to you if you are comfortable with that or not. But I think you can probably give out as good as you get, as long as you don't get mean. You'll get knocked down a peg if that happens. Coach won't put up with it.”

“Who got mean?” Yura asked as the pair headed to the gym.

“No one here. But we've heard enough from Victor about the atmosphere at Yubileyny. His stories had Coach saying 'oh _hell_ no' more than once. So that should tell you something about where the lines get drawn around here.”

Yura's mind went back to the catalog of interactions he'd had with other skaters in St. Petersburg, and was both surprised and not at how many, in just a skimming of his memories, fit the bill. “Yeah. It definitely does. Noted.”

  
  


  
  


The morning off-ice training had seen everyone quieting down and getting into their frame of mind for the day as they went through their daily routines, with Yura falling into doing the exercises he'd utilized thus far. The chatter turned idle, with remarks about skating gossip or about whatever had been on television the night before, and Yura found it a bit strange that everyone was so relaxed. As they all headed downstairs to the rink to lace up for the morning he found the feeling of foreboding that had hung over him for however long it had been not present now, replaced by the general nerves of being in a new environment.

“Rule Number Two,” Beka said, a smirk on his face. “Yuri likes to be the first one out on fresh ice in the morning. It's his thing. He won't actually get mad if someone else does it, but it kind of started when it was just him and Phichit, and now it's almost a bit of a superstition if we don't start our day that way.”

“So Katsuki is a diva after all?” Yura replied, a smirk on his face in return.

Yuri's head popped up from where he'd just finished tying his boots. “I heard my name.”

“Ohhh shit here we go!” Phichit laughed.

“I was just telling him about the ritual morning breaking of the ice,” Beka said.

Yuri stood up, tone of voice and mannerisms obviously exaggerated as he removed his blade guards and stepped over to the gate. “Bitch, I rule this rink. Get used to it!”

“Excuse me, _who_ is the reigning Olympic Champion?” Victor faux-snarked as he stood up and walked over to stand face to face with Yuri, fake scowl in place.

“I was, before you. I was also here before you and I allowed you into _my_ rink. You best remember that,” Yuri faux-snarked back, giving Victor's chest a poke with one index finger. He then turned dramatically and stepped one foot out onto the ice, his back foot pushing off from the padding on the floor inside the gate, the resulting lack of momentum allowing him to glide exactly two inches before he wobbled and put his other foot down on the ice to balance. He looked back over his shoulder with an equally-exaggerated haughty expression.

“I meant to do that.”

Yura was the first of the group to break into a guffaw of laughter, the rest of them following after. He finally managed a “what the fuck!” as he looked over at Beka, who was shaking his head in amusement.

“Welcome to DSC,” Altin grinned.

“Okay, I see the tone of the day is Shenanigans!”

Yura reflexively stiffened, face falling back to stoic at the sound of head coach Cialdini's voice as he entered the rink, Muramoto and Rowan following behind. The rest of the group was still laughing and bantering as the trio began to set up their stations at the boards.

“Hey Yura, these dingbats drive you nuts yet?” Celestino said with a grin as he noticed Plisetsky there.

“It's... different,” Yura replied, his cautious tone causing Beka to frown pensively.

“Well, I got a good amount of practice with Victor when he had his growing pains with how we roll,” Cialdini smiled. “We'll get you used to our mantra around here, which is 'Get Serious About Having Fun'.” He then looked around to see Yuri and Victor already out on the ice beginning their warmup, while the rest of the group was still on the bench. “Okay everyone, warmup starts now, you got 10 before morning exercises, let's go!”

Yura responded to the coach's callout by immediately getting up and heading onto the ice, finding a bit of normalcy in the change in Celestino's tone to something more serious. At first Yura began to do his usual fast laps around the rink, but noticed that everyone else was moving slowly which prompted him to reduce his speed and observe what was happening. Victor and Yuri were chatting about their practice plan for the day as they glided around the boards for a bit, the rest of the crew feeling out the ice conditions before everyone angled into crossovers and began to speed up about three minutes in. The ten minutes Celestino allotted for the warmup allowed everyone to ramp up to full power gradually to start the day. As Yura did his best to fall in with the group he realized that by when the coach called time on the warmup, he wasn't gasping for air and somewhat anxious because his heart was pounding out of his chest from powering around the rink at top speed. Instead, his body felt loosened up and stretched out after he followed the group's warmup sequence, which saw them all following Yuri in a line around and across the rink in a succession of Moves in the Field that opened up their bodies from the boots up, gradually increasing in speed. By the time they all came to a stop Yura felt a bit buzzed, a strange, heady sort of adrenaline that felt better than he wanted to admit at first. After a break for water the skaters gathered around where the three coaches stood with Yuri in the quarter of the ice closest to the end where the coaches had set up their stations.

“Okay, today's figure is the [Double Three](https://i.ibb.co/X48vXMC/1-3-1-400x496.jpg),” Celestino said. “Ready Yuri?” Katsuki nodded then pushed off, beginning a sequence of edge movements that eventually created a distinctive pattern in the ice. Once he'd finished the first pass he began a second, prompting Yura to switch his attention from the tracks Yuri had made to the precision changes of edge and direction of Katsuki's blades as he traced over his own pattern until he returned to his starting position.

“I'm willing to bet Yakov didn't bother showing you this stuff,” Victor murmured to Yura as Celestino called Phichit over to begin the figure, with Yuri standing beside his coach as they both observed Chulanont's attempts to follow Katsuki's tracing in the ice.

“I might have learned these when I was still in Moscow but not for too long, it kind of looks familiar from when I was in Novice. At Yubileyny I only got Moves in the Field training, but it looks like this stuff is harder,” Yura said. “Did you learn this?”

“A little, when I was quite young. Once they were no longer required for competition, Yakov tapered off on teaching them until he dropped it with his newer students, and stopped requiring it of the older ones. I kind of forgot them over time, until I started doing them again after reading about how Yuri still practiced them even before I came here. I hate to admit that I kind of forgot how satisfying they are to do.”

“And you guys do this every morning?”

“Yes. It's a nice way to narrow down your focus for the day. Normally for an actual figure practice or competition we'd all make our own figure tracing on clean ice, which is how I remember learning them. But since there aren't really rules for learning or practicing them anymore, Coach and Yuri kind of made a game out of it where we all try to get as close to Yuri's tracing as possible. It's a nice little bit of team bonding, if you will. Oops, it's my turn,” Victor said, cutting the conversation short as Yuri called him over. Yura moved in closer to watch Victor execute the figure, with Yuri at one point reminding Victor to keep his back straight. Once Victor finished, Yuri looked over at Yura.

“Okay Yura, you're up,” he said, prompting Plisetsky to move over to the starting point with a tentative air about him. “Have you ever done these before?”

“Nah, not really, just Moves in the Field,” Yura replied.

“That's fine, at least you have some foundation. Don't worry about staying too close into the pattern yet since it's your first time. You're gonna push off from a T-position from the start mark over here. I can call the moves for the first pass if you want.”

Yura looked over the figure, finding that he was able to recognize the different steps via the patterns left by the other skaters. “Nah, I think I can follow it from what I can see, but thanks.” Yura then set his blade into the mark the other skaters had made with their beginning pose, with Yuri nodding in acknowledgment as Plisetsky focused on the tracks in the ice. He began to follow the others' tracings of the steps with only one slight bobble on the first three-turn in the first pass, then without mistakes on the second.

“Nice! You've got solid edge control, we'll just refine it,” Celestino said as Yura finished. “We can have Yuri work with you for about 15 minutes a day on figures while we have time in the off-season, just to start. Once you've committed that to muscle memory, just the daily exercise will be fine. I don't think you'll need much work on them, to be honest, but I think you would benefit from cleaning up your edges a bit.”

Yura nodded, the assertion familiar. “I've gotten judges' feedback on that, but I never had much time to really work on it.” He looked over as he heard Yuri hum and nod affirmatively in response. “What?”

“That's more than likely the issue with your edge quad jumps,” Yuri said. “When you have tighter edge control, you're more secure doing the complicated setups I've seen in your programs. I think figures will help.”

Beka found himself smirking wryly at the mixture of surprise and confusion on Yura's face. As the session switched into freeform elements practice and program runthroughs, he skated over to Yura who had gone to the boards to get a drink from his water bottle.

“So Celestino listens to Yuri like that, even though he's not a coach? And Katsuki is telling people what to do better even if it means they can beat him with it?” Yura asked.

Otabek nodded, smirking again at his inward observation confirmed. “Yes. That's how it works here. Yuri helped me with my quad Sal, maybe even a bit more than Coach C did. Victor helped me with my presentation when I got feedback that I needed to work on it. There aren't secrets here. One day not long after I first came here I couldn't land an Axel to save my life, and Phichit told me I was for some reason slipping off my blade on the takeoff. He asked me when I'd had them sharpened last, and I couldn't remember. Got a sharpen and landed a 3A no problem. Everyone helps everyone here. The only time that's off the table is actual competition, but there's even exceptions to that too. Practice is where you fix things, and whoever helps with that is a bonus.”

“It's like everyone realizes the coaches aren't the only smart ones,” Yura said. “Imagine that.”

Beka frowned at the sarcasm in Yura's tone, then looked up as Celestino called him from his place at the right-hand corner of the rink. “Ah, I gotta do my morning runthrough. It's how Coach figures out where you're at and decides on your plan for the day. I'll catch up with you on snack break.”

As Beka headed over to Celestino, Yura observed the on-ice protocol for runthroughs that dictated keeping to the boards or as far out of the way as possible. He was just about to work on a spin sequence in one of the far corners of the rink when he looked up to see Yuri heading in his direction, immersed in the setup for a Lutz. Having not seen the run up to it Yura thought by the speed it would be a triple, and was more than a little surprised when Katsuki knocked off an effortless quad Lutz with a very clear and clean takeoff and landing edge about three yards away from Yura. As Katsuki arced around while holding the landing position he ended up facing Plisetsky, and dropped out of the runout to head over to him.

“You good over here?” Yuri asked. “You look a bit out of sorts.”

“Yeah... just... that quad Lutz was pretty intimidating. I've never been that close to see your technique on it before. It looked like you were only gonna do a triple.”

“It's flowing pretty well now,” Katsuki conceded. “But I still keep the practices on them to a minimum. Coach doesn't want me stressing my ankles too much. As long as I get between two to five good ones a day, he's happy.”

“That's it?” Yura asked, eyebrows raised.

“Oh yeah. And if you can't get your feet under you on any given day and it's just not working he'll call time on it so you don't hurt yourself. Drilling a jump nonstop really doesn't help you, it only stresses you and when you get tired, you miss more than you land and then it all goes up here,” Yuri said, tapping his head. “And then the anxiety is like, 'hey that sucked so you suck!' and it becomes a downward spiral to a vicious circle.” He paused then with a soft smirk. “Well, that last part's about me.” Yura blinked in response, and Yuri felt a bit of a pang in his chest at the flash of recognition over the young Russian's face.

“I don't know if it's just you,” Yura said finally, his tone a bit distracted.

Yuri nodded quietly then. “It happens to the best of us. Everyone's experience is a little different, but every single one of us has bad days on the ice. It's how you approach that, and how Coach approaches it, that makes all the difference. That made all the difference for me especially.”

“But it's still there right? Like... does it ever go away?”

Yuri paused then to weigh his answer for a moment as he noted tone of Yura's voice; the one that held the tiniest spark of hope that he wasn't the only one who experienced those same highs and lows.

“It never goes away. It doesn't work like that. I mean... look what happened to me at the Olympics. I didn't realize I was stressing until it caught up to me in the Singles Free. That's why when I landed the quad Lutz a little shaky, that little tiny spark was there. And it flared up just enough by the end that I tripled the quad toe. It's the times you think you're the strongest and most prepared, those moments when you let your guard down, that it sneaks up on you. But you know what? That's okay. At the end of the day, you still did your best, and when you have a coach that supports you no matter what, that understands what you're going through, you just want to get your skates back on and do better next time instead of throwing them in the trash and calling it a day.”

Yura was about to answer when both he and Yuri noticed Victor heading over, swinging around close enough for them to hear as he called over to them. “Yura, Celestino wants to see you. He wants to have a talk with you and I.” He then paused when he registered Yuri there. “Everything okay?”

Yura looked over at Yuri, giving him a look and a nod that told Victor something about the conversation between the two men had caught hold in Plisetsky's head. “Yeah. It's all good.” Yuri gave a soft smile and nod in return to send Yura off with Victor.

“How's it going?” Celestino asked with a smile as the two Russians stopped at the boards.

“Still kinda getting used to stuff,” Yura said. “It's way different here than what I'm used to.”

“Yeah, Victor had a tough time with it at first too,” Celestino nodded. “One thing I always hated was going guns blazing into the first session of the morning, so I like to give the option for everyone to get their systems online slowly. Sometimes for example Yuri and Beka if they have competitions coming up, they'll hit the ice a bit harder first thing, but I still like everyone to be about 80 percent max for the first session of the day.”

“It's... not a bad idea,” Yura said. “It's just...” He paused, looking for the words.

“It feels like slacking off,” Victor finished for him. “But trust me, after a week of working with what your body tells you it's ready for rather than pushing it to the limit from the first minute of the day, where you start your weekend not feeling like you've been hit by a train, you get used to it.”

Celestino smiled at Victor's words before turning his attention to Yura. “Okay so. I got an email from the RSF, they've approved the tryout request. So we're good to go. We can go on the record right now if you want, or if you're still feeling the jet lag and you want another day to get up to speed, we can start tomorrow. You know yourself best, so I'll let you make the call. I want you to feel like you've represented your top skill levels to me and to give me a clear picture of where you're at. I'm going to have Victor work with me, since he's familiar with your training methods to date and your skill level from competing with you. And he'll also be my backup coach, so you have someone that knows you well to fill in when needed.”

Yura took a few moments to process everything Celestino said, considering his options. “I think... I've been off the ice except for pick-up sessions at my old rink while I was staying with Grampa in Moscow since I withdrew from Worlds, and as far as travel I've gotten more rest since I got here than when I'm traveling before an actual competition. I've competed on less energy than I'm at right now. Maybe... lemme see where my jumps are for the rest of the session, then start after the morning break?” Victor's expression turned pensive at the tentative tone Yura's voice took on; he was quite certain even having the options he was presented was foreign to Plisetsky.

“I think that's completely reasonable. I'll have Victor observe informally in the meantime. Just don't push yourself if you don't feel you're ready, because it will do a disservice to both of us by misrepresenting your skill level. When you push too hard, you make more mistakes and I don't want to start with a baseline that's too low,” Celestino said.

“Do you have any of your music with you?” Victor asked. “You can do a soft runthrough like everyone else did to see how you're feeling.”

“Yeah, I got both of this year's programs on my phone and my exhibition too. I just gotta get it from my bag.”

“All right, let's do that,” Victor said, prompting Celestino to hand Yura his blade guards so he could go over to his things just off the ice. Nikiforov then led Plisetsky over to the sound man, who cued up his “All Alone” short program as Yura got into position at center ice. As his music started the rest of the skaters moved over along the boards to continue their practice as Victor came back over to where Celestino stood to watch.

Yura had chosen his short program as it was the first full runthrough he had done in quite some time. He felt a bit of a burn in his leg muscles during the step sequences from having been off the ice full-time for so long, but much less than if he'd come in without the morning warmups he'd done with the group that day. He chose a quad Salchow for the opening jump, the entry clean but the landing a bit wobbly. With a better feel for the ice conditions the quad flip-triple toe loop combination went much more smoothly, followed by a triple Axel with the slightest bit of extra swing in his free leg on the landing. The jumps were more than everyone else had done for their first runthroughs of the day, but Yura was pleased to find his technique had not suffered as much as he'd expected it to (or had always been told it would?) for the length of time he had been off the ice. As he hit his ending pose Katsuki was gliding by on the long edge of the rink and offered up some applause that was echoed by the other skaters.

“I think you're looking pretty solid,” Celestino said as Yura T-stopped at the boards, reaching for his water bottle.

“I was shaky on a couple landings,” Yura countered. “But better than I thought.” He was about to continue when Katsuki came to a stop with a bemused smirk on his face.

“I can tell you why right now: You drop your right shoulder just like Victor did,” Yuri said, causing Victor to nod emphatically in response. “You start relaxing your shoulders too early, and it throws you off on the landing itself.”

“I caught that too,” Celestino said. “And you know what that means?”

“It means it's a technique flaw that we were both taught,” Victor said. “Yakov always told me not to keep my shoulders and arms too tight, and sometimes one would be looser than the other especially on my landings. Coach C worked on breaking that habit to give me more consistency and tighter rotations, but when I'm not paying attention I still relax them a bit too much.”

“Spoken like you had a coach that skated competitively in an era where doubles were the standard,” Celestino nodded. “I started pulling in tighter when I was learning my quad toe, and my triples improved dramatically. My coach was roughly in the same generation that Yakov was, maybe slightly older. At some point, there's gonna be a disconnect in what works as the sport evolves.”

Victor then asked Yuri to demonstrate, and Katsuki moved over to mime in slow motion the rotations of a jump, pulling his arms into the position he was taught by Celestino to use [as he rotated on the ice](https://youtu.be/23EfsN7vEOA?t=3), opening out into a landing position at the end. “See how Yuri pulls his shoulders and arms in tight at takeoff, and then doesn't relax fully till after landing, not before? Once I started doing that, I felt like I had more control on my landings. It's a small thing, but it will help.”

“Yeah, I saw him do it when he did the quad Lutz before,” Yura nodded. He then hesitated a moment before his next words. “Can... can you show me that again?”

“Sure thing,” Yuri said, pushing off to gain some speed and arcing back, this time showing the technique with a full triple Axel. Along with the tight shoulders and arms, Yura also noticed the chin raise he'd seen Katsuki do when watching videos of his jumps before he opened out into a secure landing.

“Thanks. Okay lemme try,” Yura said, pushing away from the boards and working up the speed for his own triple Axel. He did his best to mimic Yuri's technique, pulling his arms in, shoulders and chin up. The change in technique threw off his form somewhat, forcing him to put a hand down on the landing.

“It looked like you already got a bit more lift in the takeoff just from that small adjustment,” Victor noted.

“Yeah, I felt it!” Yura said. “I didn't expect that. I'll have to work on it because it might throw my jumps off for a bit till I get a handle on it. Did it make you lose any jumps?”

“My quads actually suffered a little more than the triples,” Victor said. “I had to sort out the extra amplitude. But maybe only for a week or two at most?”

“Now keep in mind that Victor's been jumping a lot longer than you,” Celestino cautioned. “He was able to correct and adjust pretty quickly because he knows his body well. You're not long out of Juniors, and this is the best time for a big change to your technique. You might struggle for a little bit longer before it all balances out. The one thing we don't do here is compare apples to oranges. Just because one skater did it in x amount of time doesn't mean you have to too. But, quite honestly, that's the biggest thing I'm seeing that we would need to work on. Your presentation did improve this past year, but I'm still seeing some things that can be refined on that scale as well. The biggest advantage you have right now is your age. This is the time where you're gonna start building on what your peak years will be like, and overall I think you'll adapt quickly to the changes both on and off the ice.”

Yura nodded, taking everything in, a little overwhelmed by how both Victor and Yuri had already rallied around to help him with constructive critique, something that never happened at Yubileyny. “You know what, I think I'm ready to go on the record this afternoon. If you want to start the tryout phase, let's do it.”

Celestino looked over to Victor, who nodded in agreement. “All right buddy, I'm in. After morning snack break, it's wheels up.”

  
  


  
  


Yura was both surprised and not at how easily he fell into the routine of the rest of the day. After a 30-minute mid-morning break wherein all of the elite-level skaters in Celestino's group took a break to relax and refuel with a light snack, the following session was what the coach called “full speed ahead”. The atmosphere changed to more serious as everyone focused, more like a competition practice in some ways. While Victor still opted to practice triples and only his two best quads, the toe and flip now that he was retired from competition, the remaining still-competitive skaters kicked it up to full power. After warmup Yuri began knocking off quad Lutzes and flips, the two quads he'd most recently become consistent on; Phichit worked on his own quad flip, which Yura noted was now at a rate of about 60% landed; Leo was at 50% success on his quad Salchow, and Beka now had a consistent quad toe, flip and Salchow and was currently working with Celestino holding the [on-ice jump harness](https://youtu.be/NldKPNs3yOo) for him as he began testing out a quad Lutz.

Yura spent a bit of time observing all of this from the boards once the practice began in earnest, taking in how everyone interacted. Unlike his previous training situation there wasn't an air of trying to be the best even on practice ice; in fact it was quite the opposite. Upon noticing Yuri had been watching one of Beka's quad Lutz attempts Celestino asked him for an opinion from a fresh pair of eyes. Victor had paused on the far side of the rink after landing a succession of his own triples and quads to help Leo with his quad Sal entry at Rowan's request, with Muramoto instructing Phichit to pause his own practice to watch Victor's demonstration which showed Nikiforov to still be quite consistent on his own quadruple Salchow. Muramoto and Rowan took notes from everyone who gave input on their skaters, taking everything into consideration. Victor, as the eldest skater in the group, was given the respect his experience and knowledge demanded while still being treated as an equal; after one wonky landing on a quad Sal when jumping it for Leo, Muramoto reminded him about the shoulder-drop that was so ingrained in his muscle memory it only took a moment of decreased focus to allow him to slip back into old ways. Yura expected Victor to be offended that she'd called him out in front of the younger skaters, but instead Victor both acknowledged it and turned it into an example for Leo to pay attention to his own shoulder positions.

After getting a grasp on the dynamics Yura began to mesh in with his own practice, winding up from triples to the quads he was most secure on, the toe and Sal, to get his feet under him. He kept to himself as Celestino was busy with his scheduled focus on Otabek; the coach had designated a 30-minute block per day to work with Beka as he had not gotten past the harness stage with his quad Lutz, a measure that lessened the possibility of injury as he worked on mastering the jump. But as Yura began to try out his quad loop, he learned that the head coach seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.

“Your entry to the loop looks good, but you're still starting the first rotation on the ice the majority of the time,” Celestino called over to him; in turn Yura blinked in surprise, looking over to see that Beka had paused for a water break which gave the coach a moment to watch Yura in turn. “Vault first, and when you feel your blade leave the ice, that's when you tighten up like Yuri showed you. I think the problem is just that you're trying to get your timing right on it now that you're doing it differently.”

Yura nodded as he thought back over the sequence of his jump entry. “Yeah, I'm used to not tightening up till I'm in the first rotation, and when I think about it, opening up too soon for the landing.”

“It will just be a matter of repetition, there's no way around that,” Cialdini said. “But be careful on your loops for now, till we can get you in to see the trainer. I want you to focus on those muscles in off-ice a lot more and Mark will help you come up with a program for that. I'll tell you right now, I'm very picky about practicing loops. In this house we do not take loops lightly.”

Yuri was gliding by at the coach's last remark; in a moment of hilarity Yura didn't see coming, Katsuki suddenly broke into a spot-on impression of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. “Tricksy loopeses, we hates them!!” he exclaimed, then skated off as if nothing had happened, causing Yura to blink in surprise, the burst into laughter along with Beka and Celestino.

“Somebody's sassy today!” Cialdini grinned. “Anyway, I've got 10 more minutes with Beka here, then we'll take a closer look at that loop,” he said to Yura. “Back off on it for now though, take it easy till we get that new entry ironed out. Switch to toe jumps till I can get over there and monitor.”

Yura nodded, finding himself much more agreeable to the coach's orders when they were given in a rational way, inwardly noting that it felt good to be spoken to at the same level as the other skaters. “Got it.”

  
  


  
  


The rest of the day flew by for Yura. After working with Celestino on his quad loop entry in the on-ice harness until the end of the mid-morning session, the group of skaters had lunch together before returning for the first of two shorter afternoon sessions that were reserved for runthroughs of programs as well as general practice. During the first session Victor worked with Yura, settling into his potential role as overseer of Plisetsky's presentation and choreography with a side focus on the technical aspects. Yura had felt that he never quite skated to his free program from the Olympic season to its full potential, and thus was intending to keep it for another season. Consequently the pair discussed what could be improved, and worked on upping the technical level of the footwork and spin sequences. Yura found the extra focus on tight turns and more difficult positions in his spins wore him out a bit, but in a way that felt rather satisfying.

The final session of the day was spent with Celestino, focusing on what needed to be worked on for technical purposes. After discussion between Yura, Victor and the head coach it was determined that Victor would continue to work on the spins and step sequences, while Celestino would specialize in the jumps with Victor's input into the quads, as Celestino had only ever jumped a quad toe loop in his competitive career. Yura quite liked the team aspect, but more than that he appreciated being heard and his thoughts being acknowledged. Even if there were reasons one thing or another wouldn't work the way he thought it would, it was presented in a way that didn't cut him down or belittle his input.

At the end of the day the walk home from the rink was utilized as everyone's cool-down. A 30-minute walk didn't seem like much, but Yura found himself quite exhausted, at least physically. Mentally he was already looking forward to tomorrow at the rink, something he'd come to realize he hadn't felt in so long he no longer could remember when it had still been exciting. He was grateful for the stop along the way home at a cafe where the group had dinner together for the purpose of welcoming Yura into the fold, and he found himself amused at the fact that it seemed to be a given he'd be staying.

But by the time he'd gotten home with Beka, with a hot shower on aching muscles and a short nap on the sofa to chase off the lingering edges of jet lag mixed with the work of the day, Yura couldn't disagree with them. As he sat on the couch, nursing a cup of tea as Beka worked with editing some music on his laptop Yura had fallen quiet, his mind swirling with thoughts until the melody from the laptop broke into them due to familiarity.

“Isn't that Phichit's new free program music?” Yura asked.

“Yeah. I've started doing music cuts for Celestino's students. They were paying a ridiculous amount for music editing, especially the younger skaters, to a guy from a local music studio. I knew I could do it easily because I have Pro Tools for my DJ work, so I offered my services. It's cheaper for them, it's easy money for me and I enjoy doing it. I did the cuts for our elite group last season, and it gave me extra money for my Olympic season outfits. That's why my “O Fortuna” costume was so detailed. And it helps to be able to watch the skaters and see what they want to do with the music. I like working with them and finding the best way to highlight their skating. I'm doing a couple of the Junior men this season since I don't have to worry about the Olympics. It's a challenge, like a puzzle, and something to focus on that helps me wind down especially if I've had a bad day of my own in practice.”

“I don't think I've ever heard of a rink that does all this stuff, where everyone gets along like this,” Yura said. “It seems like there's gonna be a catch somewhere along the way.”

“It's unusual for sure, but it's mostly because of Coach. He has that effect on people. He teaches you the value of giving back. People keep wondering when they watch from the outside why DSC skaters, even the Juniors, just have a different attitude, why we're so successful. But it's just all about how you're treated, and how that makes you treat others because of it. I like to call it “separate but equal”. Everyone gets what they need to do well, even if that's focused work, but at the end of the day there's no “star student” or playing favorites. I thought for sure when I came here that Yuri would be Coach's main focus, but he's there for all of us. And that's the biggest difference. And now Victor is learning that style of coaching too.”

“Yeah I noticed that too. Victor isn't the same person, at least, he's not who I thought he was when he was still in St. Petersburg. He seemed cold, up his own ass even before Yakov started treating him like shit. And Yakov would yell at you if you even tried to talk to Victor. He literally said once during a practice, 'do not disturb the master at work'. But after talking with him so much when we roomed together at the Olympics, knowing how Yakov was to me, and now knowing what it's like here... I get it now, why he's changed.”

Beka smiled softly in response to that. “So I'm guessing you like what you've seen so far.”

Yura paused then, fighting the ingrained impulse to downplay his own positive thoughts about anywhere other than Yubileyny and his former coach. “I mean... yeah. Today was... the first time in a long time I wasn't stressed out at the rink. That no one yelled at me. I didn't feel like I had to watch my back. But other than that, Cialdini gave a shit about me. I haven't been in a jump harness since I moved to Yubileyny. As it was I had to have all my triples before Yakov would accept me as a student. But here I am in a jump harness to work through a change to my technique because I could hurt myself till I'm secure with it. Like... really? I don't have to wing it and hope I get it right so I'm not bitched at? And I've got the current World Champion, who I will be competing against, coming over and giving me tips? It's just... it sounds stupid as fuck to say but I'm still kind of thrown by it all. And I shouldn't have to be surprised that training mates are nice and give a shit about you, let alone your coach. But now that I'm away from Russia, I'm seeing all this shit that's like...”

Otabek had turned to face Yura as he spoke, sensing the beginnings of the cracks in the armor the young skater had been forced to wear for the last several years. Rather than speak he waited patiently, nodding by way of encouraging Plisetsky to voice his thoughts. After a couple minutes of silence, Yura drew in a deep breath, exhaling sharply.

“I was pissed at myself for fucking up at the Olympics. I knew it was mostly because of Yakov putting so much pressure on me that it happened, but I was still pissed off about it and still am even now. But now I look back and I see how I cracked, and why Victor didn't. I see why Victor pushed himself to his limits. Victor said he wanted to return everything Cialdini gave him when we talked after he won in PyeongChang. I didn't really understand what he meant. I do now. It's... okay this will sound weird but... it's like me with Grampa. He raised me, did so fucking much for me. And now I wanna help him and make sure he's okay in return. And that's what's going on here, from what you said and from what it feels like. It's fine to want to win for yourself, to challenge yourself, but when someone _wants_ you to do your best, and wants the best for you... then you want to give them your best in return.”

Otabek smiled at that, nodding again this time in agreement. “Exactly. That's why Yuri is the skater he is today too.”

Yura paused then, eyes widening slightly at the thought. “Yeah... I talked a little bit with Yuri today about all that. He said Cialdini will probably want me to see this Dr. Jeff guy. At first I was kind of not going for it but...”

“You've been through way more than anyone your age normally has been, both on and off the ice. There's nothing wrong with talking with someone like that. Sometimes even if you are going through a phase in your skating where your head isn't connecting with the rest of you, it can help. I even talked with Dr. Jeff during the Olympic season. Coach gave us the option to voluntarily talk with him, just to make sure we weren't feeling the extra stress too much, and dealing with it in healthy ways. And it helped me to focus that much more. Too many skaters think they have to go through shit alone, and they don't. Coach went through hell because of the way his career ended, so he's very big on making sure you're okay in every way.”

Yura nodded quietly as he heaved another sigh. “It's a lot to take in... but in a good way, if that makes any sense.”

“Yeah, it does. It messes with you because you realize how much better you can be and how much better things around you can be, and at the same time you look back and see how much damage has been done.”

“Victor said that, yeah.”

Another pause then as both men mulled over the conversation, during which Yura finished his tea and Beka sent Phichit the revised cut of his music.

“So you got another six days at the rink before you have to make a decision, right?” Otabek finally asked.

“Yeah. Today felt good but I was still kind of tired by the end of it. I should be good for tomorrow and Friday, but the weekend off will get me through the last of the jet lag I think. Then I gotta file the formal request by Wednesday. Usually you can take longer than that if you want, but I told them I didn't want to take too long to decide because I've got Victor's tour in Russia coming up, and now he is gonna add me to the other dates too. So I gotta do that while I'm figuring out everything else, and I just wanna know where home base is gonna be so at least that's settled.”

“I don't know, you kind of seem like you already know where that's gonna be though,” Beka said with a soft smirk.

“Yeah,” Yura replied. “To be honest, I already know what I'm gonna do, even after just today. If this is how it's gonna be, and it's not gonna change once I'm locked in and with the club, like it did at Yubileyny... fuck yeah I'm in. I'm just worried that the RSF is just humoring me and when they find out I really want to come here, they'll push back on it.”

“Well I can tell you things won't change as far as how Coach is or the way we do things. And you don't even have to get really friendly with everyone if you don't want to right off the bat either. Dinner today was just letting you know you're welcome no matter what. It took me a while to get used to how relaxed everyone is with relation to each other because I came here around this time of year too, when it was off-season. Things turn toward business when the season gets nearer and everyone's first events are coming up, but at the end of the day when we walk out the door we are all friends off the ice too. It's too exhausting to have your guard up all the time you know?”

“Hell yeah I do,” Plisetsky replied, a scoff in his tone. “And it's not... I mean, I get that I don't come off too great sometimes. But it's... I think it's because I kind of had to be a hardass? I'm starting to realize that now. Because every day back in St. Petersburg was all about competing. I was the youngest one there and I was made to feel like I had to hold my own with the big boys. Yakov had me on the same ice as Victor when I was still a Junior so I had to kinda prove I deserved to be there.”

“I've never understood having Juniors and Seniors on the same ice. A lot of the time the younger kids don't observe the protocols and they'll get in your way and shit gets dangerous. Or you have what I had at my rink before I came here, where they're trying to show off to prove to the Seniors that they mean business, and they act like they own the ice.”

Yura nodded as he listened. “Exactly. But like, today... I wasn't treated like the new kid, the brat that was in the way. Even when Cialdini wanted me to work on the quad loop in the harness, he was like 'now this isn't because I think you're a beginner, I just don't want you hurting yourself' and that was like, the polar opposite of Yakov barking at me to get the fuck on the ice and jump till I land it at least 10 times perfectly. I'm skating around between practice on elements and everyone passing by asks how I'm doing, if I need anything. I know that will go away once I'm settled in but... well fuck. I know I keep going on and on about this but it was fucking _nice_ today and I actually wanted to be there, and I want to be there tomorrow too, and it's been too fucking long since I've been able to say that.”

Otabek smiled softly then, nodding in response. “It tends to hit you pretty hard when you realize things don't have to stay the way they are, that they can be better. Taking a jump like this is scary for sure, but I have honestly felt for a long time that you'd fit in well here. But I didn't say anything because I wanted you to figure it out yourself. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy thing for you to leave, and telling you all of that would have just put more stress on you that you didn't need. But I'm glad you're thinking of staying. Like Coach said, this is the time to do it, now before your skating gets to where it will be too difficult to fix things and change. And that also goes for other things too, like taking care of yourself so you can have a long career.”

Yura was quiet for a bit then as he seemed to mull everything over. “I'm gonna hold off on telling Cialdini yet though. I have a feeling he'll tell me not to rush it. But I'm ready to do this. Victor said he'd help me get the red tape out of the way for visas and shit. I'll talk with him about that tomorrow. I gotta figure out how to get Potya over here, and get Grampa somewhere where he'll be watched over and safe. Maybe I'll take the GP series off like Cialdini suggested, so I don't have to stress. I don't know. My head's going a million miles an hour right now.”

“The best thing to do is take it one day at a time. You'll get there one way or the other. But I really think it will all work out in the end, because it really seems like it's supposed to and needs to. But the best part about that is you don't have to do it all alone... no pun intended.”

Yura huffed in amusement at that, a slight smirk crossing his face. “Yeah,” he agreed. “That really is the best part.”

  
  


  
  


The ensuing weeks had been quite the rollercoaster for Yura. Once the Victor and Friends tour dates were completed Yura had returned first to Moscow to help Nikolai move into his new home at a senior living complex, and then to St. Petersburg to move out of his own apartment, with Yuri and Victor along to offer what assistance they could on all fronts. Had it not been for Victor's help, having experienced many of the same processes when making the move to Detroit, Plisetsky was pretty sure he would not have been able to handle everything on his own. The issues with work visas and residency papers had gone quite well, better than he'd expected; it had been the RSF that had been surprisingly difficult once Celestino Cialdini informed them that Yura had chosen him as his new coach. Victor had, however, been nonplussed and played mediator; the deal was sealed when, upon the RSF's request, Celestino agreed to list Victor as Yura's coach on an official level. Once the federation was satisfied that their newest star would still have a Russian coach in addition to his American one, and would still represent Yubileyny, they allowed the transfer to be processed.

As they had with Victor, the RSF had stipulated that Plisetsky leave the apartment they had been paying for by the end of August, which had left them a bit more than two weeks after the tour ended to get all of Yura's things packed on top of taking care of his grandfather's move. Yura was certain he'd crash for a few days after returning to Detroit out of relief, but for now, he was determined to keep his composure until their flight had left Russian soil.

Yura walked through the small one-bedroom apartment he had been living in since moving to St. Petersburg nearly four years prior for the final time after he, Yuri and Victor had been staying there over the past week while packing it up. With the relatively small amount of personal effects he'd brought from Moscow and then accumulated over that time now safely in boxes and currently being loaded on a Fed-Ex truck to be shipped to Detroit, with just the bare bookshelves and the furniture that had come with the apartment left, it seemed much larger than it actually was. Victor had been surprised at how small the place had been, but then mused, with a slightly guilty tone, that he was pretty sure the RSF had been pouring all their resources elsewhere up until recently. Yura had even been told by Yakov that if he won gold at PyeongChang the RSF would reward him accordingly, and now that they'd released him to move to the US to train under Celestino Cialdini and Victor Nikiforov, he had to wonder if they'd only given him the amount of pushback they had because of his perceived failure in keeping his end of the deal.

He was broken from his thoughts by Potya's plaintive meow, and he looked down as he remembered the cat was in his carrier as Yura, along with Victor and Yuri, were staying in a hotel overnight before heading to the airport for the long flight back to Detroit in the morning. Of all the things Victor had specifically helped with, getting Potya's shots and travel red tape squared away was the thing he was second-most grateful for.

First and foremost had been the relocation of Yura's grandfather, Nikolai, from the apartment he'd been living in that had been smaller and far less maintained by its landlord than Yura's. When said landlord had tried to gouge Nikolai for the security deposit, claiming the cracked ceilings and walls were somehow a semi-disabled old man's doing, all it had taken was Victor's appearance there within the hour to shut the slumlord down completely. It certainly wouldn't have been a good look to be exposed as a slumlord to the grandfather of the next big figure skating star in the Russian media by Victor Nikiforov, Victor had said to the man with one of his best “do not test me or I shall destroy you” grins.

It hadn't been as difficult to get Nikolai to agree to the move as had been expected. His younger brother had been living in a retirement home in Moscow for a few years and had tried several times to get Nikolai to move into the same complex, but the elder Plisetsky had no one to really call on to help, and movers asked more money than he could reasonably spend. It had been more difficult for Victor to convince Nikolai to relent and accept his help on that front, but ultimately between Nikiforov and Yura they managed to achieve what seemed almost impossible for the notoriously independent elder Plisetsky.

Potya's second, more impatiently-toned meow made Yura realize he'd been lost in his thoughts again and he leaned down to pick up the carrier, speaking softly to the cat in reassuring tones just as Yuri poked his head into the doorway.

“The shipping truck's all packed and Victor's got them settled up. Ready to go?” Yuri asked, frowning slightly at the pensive expression on Yura's face. “You all right?”

“Yeah... just... not used to all of this,” Plisetsky murmured as he walked toward the door.

“It's always tough to ask for help, or accept it, when you've been told you have to be strong for most of your life,” Yuri said. “But sometimes it's the only way to move forward.”

Yura tossed the keys on the table by the door, nodding again as he walked out into the hallway with Katsuki pulling the door closed behind them. “I know. I just hope this won't take too much time away from your practice.”

“Eh, a week off the ice won't do too much. We'll be back in Detroit just before Labor Day. I'm not doing Autumn Classic this season, Japan Open isn't till the beginning of October and my first GP a month after that, so I've got enough time to play with. Between that and having done my new programs on tour I've got more than enough practice under my belt. It's all good,” Yuri said as they headed down the stairs and out to the sidewalk, where the Fed-Ex truck had just pulled away and had been replaced with their cab to the hotel. Yura heard his phone chime with a tone he hadn't heard in quite some time but chose to ignore it for the moment; once they were back at the hotel, he was in his room and had Potya settled, he finally had a chance to sit down and look at it.

**Lilia:** I am hoping I have caught you before you've left. Please call me if you can.

Yura looked over at the clock on the nightstand; Lilia would still be at the rink now as it was still just early afternoon. For a moment he was surprised that she'd taken time out to even call, but then remembered that Ms. Baranovskaya was now the head choreographer at Yubileyny and as such basically made her own rules now that her ex-husband and Yura's ex-coach, Yakov Feltsman had retired and Lilia's longtime friend, Evgenia Mustavinova was now head coach at the club.

Sighing heavily, he sat down at the table by the windows and dialed the number he had only called previously in cases of extreme emergency or importance, as Lilia's personal cell phone had been off-limits for anything more than that to her students. He found himself surprised when she answered immediately.

“Yurachka. It is good to hear from you,” Lilia began, in a tone that Yura knew well; it had been the one she'd used before they'd become allies in the face of Yakov's devolving sense of professionalism regarding his coaching methods: the one where she wanted something of Plisetsky. The warm, dare he say it, nearly motherly tone she'd taken with him the last time they'd spoken at the end of the season, before he'd left to visit his grandfather, was now completely gone. _That already tells me how much I really meant to you_ , he mused to himself.

“You wanted to hear from me, so here I am,” Yura said, adjusting his tone in kind to something more appropriate for business than pleasantries.

Lilia didn't miss a beat in response. “I know you have already been released by the RSF to move on to Detroit and Celestino Cialdini,” she said. “I was wondering how set in stone those plans are.”

“Well I am sitting here in a hotel room with my cat till I fly out in the morning, if that tells you anything,” Yura replied. _I saw this coming a mile away._

“Well, yes. But I was wondering if the transfer had been approved.”

“Coach Cialdini is putting out a press release tomorrow. The transfer was finally approved two weeks ago, he just wanted to wait until I was out of the country to make it official. Apparently there was... _someone_ who took issue with it and it got held up for a while. And if any of that gets out before he puts it out there, let's just say Victor will help him find out who knew about it.”

Silence on the other end, save for a deep sigh and somewhat defeated-sounding exhale. “I suppose then it is too late to appeal to you one last time to stay in St. Petersburg. The atmosphere here is quite different, and I think you would appreciate it quite a bit.”

“Somehow I don't think a whole lot will really change,” Yura said. “After all, it is Russia. There will never be a time when it doesn't feel like a competition to step into Yubileyny.”

“But, you would be our top-ranked men's skater now,” Lilia noted. “At the age of 16, this rink would be yours, just as it was for Victor at that age, now that the torch has been passed.”

“And we saw how well that worked out for him,” Yura said. “Besides, Victor hasn't 'passed' the torch. He's helping me to carry it. And that's the biggest difference between you and him.”

Silence again, as Yura swallowed down a reflexive pang of anxiety in his stomach, the one that had always risen up when he knew he'd spoken out of turn. Only now, he had no reason to answer to Lilia any longer.

“I could tell you all the reasons I'm looking forward to getting the fuck out of here, but that would be breaking the confidence my training mates and coach have put in me. You'll learn all about it when I choose to speak about it, and when I skate again. I have no regrets about where I'm headed. My Grampa is taken care of, and I'm going where I'm treated as an equal. I already fought like hell to get everything I needed for this move, because the RSF gave me some shit and I think I _might_ know why now. I've got Victor to thank for making them come to their senses. I'm sure it won't be the last time they meddle, but I'll just work hard enough to give them a reason to keep backing me up. But the difference is, it's on my terms, and for someone who appreciates it.”

Another few long moments of silence; another deep, resigned sigh on the other end of the line. “It seems you have grown up quite a bit since the Olympics, Yurachka. I expect you'll be quite formidable when I see you on the ice again.”

“Damn right I will be. I've got a lot to prove now, and don't think for a minute I'll leave anyone doubting that this was the right thing for me.”

“Very well then,” Lilia said, her tone firming up into the same coldness Yura remembered from his first time meeting the woman everyone in the rink was terrified of but him. “I wish you safe travels, Yuri Antonov Plisetsky, and best regards until we meet again.”

Yura knew that when Lilia Baranovskaya used one's full name, the wall of formality had been placed between her and the recipient. Any good will he had been party to before this moment was now firmly locked away into the past, and he suspected the same would go for Victor as well now that that door had also been closed. “Thank you, Ms. Baranovskaya. And to you the same,” he replied.

The tri-tone denoting the end of the call bore the same feeling of finality as a slamming door.

And with that, Yura knew now that there was still a time and place for that armor he'd always worn. He would need it whenever Lilia Baranovskaya was near in the future. It was with a bit of irony that Plisetsky then realized that as much as she'd like to think otherwise, Ms. Baranovskaya wasn't quite so different than her ex-husband after all. There had always been that tiny spark, that small feeling of misgiving Yura had always had about her; the one that told him for as much as she claimed to care about him, it would only take one wrong move on his part for that to change. That he'd only been worthy of seeing that side of her so long as he continued to deliver on meeting her expectations.

Just as it had been for Victor Nikiforov, when the result of one competition decisively proved what the Living Legend had meant to Yakov Feltsman, the coach who had made him a star.

Yuri Plisetsky knew for certain now that the path he had chosen for himself was the right one. And he was determined to never look back.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Summary:** After showing up unannounced at the Detroit Skating Club following the news of Victor Nikiforov's retirement, Yuri Plisetsky finds out exactly what he needs to do, and where he needs to be, to move forward with his skating career.
> 
> This outtake fits into the final chapter of LMFFY, between the end of Yura's discussion with Celestino and Team DSC and the Spiral Sequence section.
> 
> * * *
> 
> To say LMFFY burned me out is an understatement. With the exception of two small fics for other fandoms, I have not been able to get back to writing since I finished LMFFY back in April. This oneshot has been bouncing around in my head since I wrote the final chapter, but I knew it was far too long to include in the main story as it would have diminished the impact of the ending (IMO). It's been difficult to get it out of my brain and into the computer but it finally happened over the last couple of weeks. It is essentially a deep dive into Yura's thought processes after taking the jump to break away from Yubileyny both on and off the ice. For those that enjoyed the aspects of LMFFY that included the in-depth technical views of figure skating, this oneshot should provide a bit more of that. It does not delve into any of the romantic ships that were formed or strengthened in the main story but rather Team DSC's welcoming of Yura into the group, hence the "Yuri Plisetsky & Everyone" friendship tag.
> 
> Regarding the video I linked concerning what Yuri was doing to show Yura how he pulls in for a jump: I have seen Yuzuru do this many times in the exact way I describe it here, but of course I couldn't find a better video that shows it than the one I included. Those of you who follow skating probably know what I'm referring to. If I find a better video I will update the link in the fic.
> 
> The title of this fic is derived from the lyrics of the song that inspired the main fic, [Let Me Fall For You](https://youtu.be/5UDfDYt2Ua8) by David Cook.
> 
> I think that's it for the notes; I'm actually pretty rusty tbh! I hope you enjoy this extra trip back into the LMFFY-verse, and if any more ideas for other "deleted scenes" for this fic surface, they'll eventually turn up here. Also, thank you to all who have continued to read and comment on LMFFY since it was completed, I really appreciate it more than you know 💙💜


End file.
